Search for man who broke into nail salons in Volusia leads to suspected double murderer
Volusia Sheriff’s Office detectives tracked a man believed to be responsible for break-ins at two Volusia County nail salons to Orange County, which led to the arrest of a fugitive wanted for a double murder in Georgia.
Xavier Jones Jr., 21, of Orlando was taken into custody Monday in Orange County and charged with burglary, criminal mischief, and violation of probation. He is being held in the Orange County Jail, according to a social media post by the sheriff's office.
With Jones was Taverance T. Jackson Jr. of Opa-Locka who had an active Georgia warrant for murder. Jackson was wanted in connection with a Nov. 30 shooting at an Albany, Georgia, apartment complex that left two men dead and one woman wounded.
In the room at Jones’ house where Jackson was staying, detectives found two firearms believed to be used in the shooting. Jackson was also taken into custody by Orange County deputies and transported to the Orange County Jail.
The trail that led to the two suspects began with a burglary at Spa Nail salon at 2783 Elkcam Blvd. in Deltona which was reported on Nov. 22.
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The salon’s surveillance camera showed the break-in happened around 1 a.m. A masked suspect walked through the shattered door and straight to the cash register. After several failed attempts to smash it open, he picked it up and left.
Another camera outside captured the suspect’s vehicle, which turned out to be identical to the one used about an hour later in a similar break-in at Premiere Nails in Edgewater.
Analysts at the Volusia County Crime Center used license plate readers in the areas of each salon to identify the car used in the break-ins, a white Infiniti sedan registered to Jones.
When detectives reached out to the Orange County Sheriff's Office to make contact with Jones at his address, Orange County deputies found the car parked there and seized it as evidence.
Detectives brought the car back to Volusia County and got a search warrant. They found a mask in the back seat that matched the one seen in the surveillance video. They also found a glove, an abundance of loose coins, a nail salon loyalty card, pieces of a cash register, and broken glass. Black boots were found in the back seat with shards of broken glass stuck in the soles.
In an interview, Jones denied any involvement in any burglaries and claimed he’d rented out his vehicle to someone else. However, detectives collected DNA from the mask and used Rapid DNA technology to compare it to a sample from Jones, resulting in a match.Jackson, 19, is one of two men arrested for killing Neahmad Alfred, 21, and Tyler Graham, 21, on Nov. 30 according to the Albany Police Department as reported by WALB News 10. Police say the third victim in the shooting, Kesha’ Walton, 19, was hospitalized for serious injuries after the shooting.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Murder suspect nabbed in Orange County by Volusia County deputies
